Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Where do you go after Bridget Jones? Creator Helen Fielding's response has been to go somewhere completely different. Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination, Fielding's fourth novel, is a spy-thriller whose sassy heroine, the eponymous Joules, doesn't fret about weight gain, laddering her tights or Chardonnay and fags in the manner of her predecessor. Oh no--Olivia, once plain old Rachel Pixley from Worksop, is a self-made, go-getting journalist for the Sunday Times and Elan magazine with, or so her colleagues at the ST maintain, "an overactive imagination" and an impeccable gift for languages. Both of these come in handy when Olivia is despatched to Miami to cover a face-cream launch, meets the enigmatic Pierre Ferramo, an international playboy, and finds herself on the scene of an al-Qaeda bomb attack. (Question: where, exactly, do Elsie and Edward rustle up that tray of tea from?)
Cue meetings with suitably disreputable people (wannabe film stars, Arab carpet vendors, spies, terrorists) in an array of exotic locales (LA, Honduras, Egypt) as Olivia goes on the trail of the terrorists and, utterly implausibly, is recruited to MI6 (they can't get the staff nowadays). A ridiculous plot is not exactly a hanging offence in a spy-thriller, which is probably just as well here. Sadly, for Fielding, however, we do inhabit a post-Austin-Powers universe and Olivia, a walking digest of Susan Jeffers platitudes, is hard to take: seriously or otherwise. None of it is very funny, nor thrilling. Olivia is more Nancy Drew than Modesty Blaise or, crucially, Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum.
Still, you can have great fun playing Bond-bingo with the clichés. Family wiped out in freak accident. Tick. Greasy henchmen. Tick. Gadgets. Tick. Charismatic al-Qaeda villain, who to Olivia's amusement, admittedly, really does use the sentences: "It is a great delicacy in our land" and "Evidently, you are connoisseur of great beauty. As am I." (Alas, "I expect you to die, Ms Joules" and "He's inside the belly of that steel beast", do not materialise.) Maybe there's a clue in the title; perhaps the whole shebang is intended to be taken with a huge bag of Saxo. As Scott Rich, the CIA hunk, says to Olivia as the tale closes: "Oh don't be silly, lovey. It's just a figment of your overactive imagination." If only. --Travis Elborough --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Dependably delicious . . . Pitch perfect. ("Newsweek") Itas hard to imagine a more appealing heroine than Olivia. ("San Francisco Chronicle")
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I wasn't sure what to expect having read some of the reviews on Fieldings latest book but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It has a heroine who is funny, clumsy, imaginative, intelligent and successful but attracts all the wrong men!!. It's Bridget Jones meets James Bond but with more style and quite addictive. I actually found myself reading this book whenever I could and finished it in a couple of days - in between work.
I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed Fieldings last book and also spy novels. It's another comical book from Helen Fielding and I look forward to her next.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was really looking forward to Fielding's latest offering and was quite intrigued by the cover and the title...however in reading this book I was bored witless. It's an average read but because of the hype surrounding the author and her past works it is less than an average read - it's a real disappointment. Olivia is not funny (she tries WAY too hard), it's not thrilling nor is there any suspense - I couldn't care less if Ferramo was Bin Laden nor whether he killed the scuba diving guy because neither the storyline nor the characters are engaging in the slightest. Fielding should stick to what she does best - diaries of the neurotic, overweight, unlucky-in-love late twentysomethings...
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I actually have to give Mrs Fielding her due credit for this one; she had a tough act to follow after bridget jones and I happen to think everyone was expecting her next book to be another sequel. However, she wrote a book about a curious, calamity journalist, Olivia Joules, who, aided by her overactive imagination and hunger for adventure, becomes an undercover agent unveiling a large al-Qaeda terrorist group. 'Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination', is a quirky, easy -reading, pick-me-up, nothing too intense, exactly what I expected from the author of 'Bridgets Jones's Diary' and I was quite surprised to read one of these reviews suggesting Helen Fielding to be rascist, I perceived the comments made about the sudanese gentleman as a pretty successful attempt at portraying another culture, after all not everyone is british! Thumbs - up Helen for a triumphant effort at breaking away from Bridget...Bridget...what was her name again?
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Totally mad!
As much as I persisted with this book, it seemed to get more and more ridiculous. I like a bit of escapism but this took it way too far. Read more
Published 4 months ago by G. Catt
Stylish, sexy, comedy spy novel.
A little slow to start when you're not quite sure if Olivia Joules is just one useless journalist. Once she gets going though it becomes a 'can't put down' book with a will that... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Charlotte Stuart-Brown
Unexpected Brilliance!
This book took me on a completely unexpected journey. The author Helen Fielding is of course known for her hugely successful Bridget Jones and I was intrigued to read one of her... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mrs. R Gregerson
Olivia Joules
Helen Fielding is a British author. Olivia Joules is a British journalist. This then, does not explain the many "americanisms" that occur throughout this book. Read more
Published on 3 July 2009 by Cameron Walker
Massively disappointing
Bridget Jones is hilarious because she is so real. People identify with Bridget and you get the sense that Fielding wrote her with real affection. Read more
Published on 21 Jun 2008 by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley
Brilliant fun
Loved this... I picked it up thinking great, Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones etc etc... this could not be more different! Gripping, fun and complete escapism just what you need! Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2007 by Furbs
Cigarettes - 35, Thwarted terrorist attacks - 3
While it does not live up to the standards set by the Bridget Jones series, "Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination" was for the most part breezy and enjoyable. Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2007 by Ms. MacNeill
favourite read of the year!!!
i absolutely loved this book. found bridget jones diaries a little boring, and all the same and then when i read this it blew me away. very exciting. Read more
Published on 26 July 2007 by Ms. K. Smith
one word.....AMAZING!
i really really enjoyed this book.
i have only ever read both bridget jones books that helen fielding had writen and i thought her other two books were brilliant and so... Read more
i have only ever read both bridget jones books that helen fielding had writen and i thought her other two books were brilliant and so... Read more
Published on 13 April 2007 by kyla
Unexpectedly fabulous!
Although I have read all Helen Fielding's previous novels, I had never really fancied this one. I eventually picked it up in a charity shop a few weeks ago and finally got round... Read more
Published on 8 April 2007 by Jen
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
